• 
  
  
  Home
• 
  
  Backlog
  Reduction
• Laboratory
  Assessment &
  Enhancement
  Services
• 
  
  Customized
  Training
• 
  
  Biometric
  Identification
  • What is it?
  • Why Is It Important? »
    • Corporate Responsibility
  • What Is It Used For? »
    • Kidnap/Ransom
    • Disaster Situations/
                     Incident Investigation
  • Modes of Identification »
    • DNA
    • Friction Ridge Skin
    • Facial Recognition
    • Iris Capture
    • Dental X-Ray
    • Other Modes
  • Risk Assessment & Custom BI
  • FAQs
• 
  
  Other
  Services
  • Law Enforcement
  • Corporate/Insurance
• 
  
  
  Resources
• 
  
  
  About Us
  • Matt Schwarz
• 
  
  
  Contact

In The News

2017-06-06 | Virginia man spent nearly 10 years in prison for crime he did not commit
He constantly worried about his aging parents and missed his daughter's wedding. "My daughter getting married and me not being able to walk her down the aisle, that really hurt a lot," Bush said. Then less than a year before his release date, a call out of the blue from his lawyer, who told him another man, Christian Amos, had come forward and admitted to robbing the banks.

2017-06-02 | Fort Detrick lab slated to close handles thousands of pieces of evidence for FBI
A Fort Detrick laboratory slated for closure has processed about 14,000 pieces of evidence in criminal investigations involving biological threats such as ricin and anthrax, the FBI confirmed this week. And it’s the only laboratory in the country that can do this special brand of investigation and analysis. “The capabilities offered at the NBFAC [National Bioforensic Analysis Center] are unique and unparalleled,” FBI spokesman Matthew Bertron said in a written response to questions from The Frederick News-Post. “No alternative facility is available to support the FBI with this mission.” Bertron said the FBI relies exclusively on the NBFAC to provide 24-hour forensic analysis on biological threat investigations.

2017-05-31 | Houston CSU: Police Union Wanted Off Civilian-led Force
The Houston Forensic Science Center announced last week they would have only civilians on their CSU by the end of the year. That would mean the last eight Houston Police Department officers currently on the unit would be reassigned to duties other than collecting evidence. But the police union actually wanted it this way. Officials told Forensic Magazine that the union not only supported the move—they even initiated their members’ removal. “When it implodes, they won’t be able to blame HPD,” said Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers Union. “That place is a disaster waiting to happen.”

2017-05-30 | Motherisk scandal prompts review of Ontario’s forensic labs
The Motherisk scandal, which was revealed by a Star investigation in late 2014, has cast doubt over thousands of child protection proceedings across Canada that relied on the lab’s discredited hair-strand drug and alcohol tests from the late 1990s to the spring of 2015, when Sick Kids closed the lab. It also exposed oversight gaps at Sick Kids and in the justice system, which failed to ensure that Motherisk’s hair tests met the high bar for evidence presented in court, and has served as yet another reminder of the dangers of flawed forensics.

2017-05-26 | Fighting Forgery with Paper 'Fingerprints'
One way of protecting against fraud is to embed electronics such as RFID chips within the document. This solution is currently used in e-passport to prevent forgery. However, the security of these relies on the tamper-resistance of the chip and the more secure systems bring with them a significant cost. As an example, with the addition of a "tamper-resistant" RFID chip to the U.K. passports in 2006, the cost of an adult passport sharply rose from £42 in 2005 to £72 in 2007. While on the surface a sheet of paper may seem like any other sheet, manufacturing paper is a complex process and each sheet is unique.

2017-05-25 | DPS: Forensic scientist hid backlog of 40 cases, delayed DNA testing for years
A forensic scientist at the state crime lab intentionally hid her backlog of cases for years, failed to test DNA submitted in 40 cases, and kept evidence from those cases in her possession, according to a DPS audit uncovered by a six-month 12 News Investigation. In at least one of those cases, justice may have been denied.

2017-05-22 | Lawyers with cases related to latest drug lab scandal find guidance in last drug lab scandal
Defense lawyers are urging the courts to dismiss all cases related to the misconduct of Sonja Farak, the forensic chemist who stole from narcotics samples to feed her addiction, in a move similar to the resolution of cases related to another drug lab scandal.

2017-05-19 | Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Forensic Fingerprint Examiner?
“The goal is to identify individuals who are better at pattern recognition tasks than your average Joe,” said Melissa Taylor, a research manager at NIST who focuses on reducing the potential for errors and bias in forensic analysis. Taylor’s program is part of a larger NIST effort to strengthen forensic science in the United States.

2017-05-18 | KOLD Investigates: Justice put on hold for some
The reason is a number of property crime cases are being put on hold as a result of an ongoing backlog at the Department of Public Safety Southern Arizona Crime Lab, as well as the Tucson Police Department Crime Lab. According to Jim Maciulla of the DPS Crime Lab, their primary backlog is made up of burglary and auto theft cases. Right now, his team of 20 forensic scientists has a backlog of 3,500 cases. “We’re averaging about a thousand cases a month,” Maciulla said.

2017-05-16 | Digital Comparison of Torn Duct Tape
A new technical report has been made available by the NIJ, through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: "Quantitative Algorithm for the Digital Comparison of Torn Duct Tape". The report, written by William Ristenpart, Frederic Tulleners, and Alicia Alfter, is based on research intended to "minimize human contextual bias in decisions about whether torn duct tape found at a crime scene matches a duct-tape roll found in a suspect’s possession by combining digital image analysis and an objective, quantitative algorithm in assessing the likelihood of a match."